Fumetsu no Anata e – 6-7 [Our Goals/The Boy Who Wants to Change]

I’ve got my relationship with Fumetsu no Anata e ironed out at this point. All the time it spends detailing new locations and characters? I sleep. The showstoppers it delivers once all the pieces are in place? Real shit. Right now we’re in the first of those two modes, but since our newest character Gugu is already grappling with existential issues, the other shoe can’t be far off.

Gugu was definitely the star of episode 7, even though he spent a good deal of it questioning his metaphorical place in the world (as well as his missing brother’s literal one). His quickness to assume the role of Fushi’s protector spoke to his need for companionship, but it also made him easy to like, the same way March’s indomitable spirit did for her character. If Fumetsu follows the formula it’s laid out for itself, Gugu will be dead within a few weeks, after he’s thoroughly endeared himself to the audience. I just hope he gets a chance to endear himself to his crush Rean before that point – masked brewery employees deserve love, too!

One standout episode per month is what I expect we’ll be averaging through August, which is when Fumetsu ought to end, given its unusual episode count. Is that enough to put it up there with the year’s best anime? Not in my opinion, especially since the art direction is so plain (and occasionally dips into ugly territory). We recently got some insight into the show’s mythology, however, the involvement of which could offset visually turbulent moments in the future. Essentially, whenever we watch Fumetsu no Anata e, we’re witnessing a larger conflict between two metaphysical forces: one that wants to preserve the world’s order, and one that wants to disrupt it. Fushi’s creator is part of the former group, meaning that his creation’s release into the world is part of a larger plan. The memory-filching monster that Fushi battled at the tail end of episode 6 belongs to the second faction, and given how close it came to killing an immortal being, they aren’t to be underestimated.

Interestingly, Fushi’s maker took a break from his usual narrator duties last week to comment directly on the plot: “It seems someone has come to play in my garden” (spoken after becoming aware of the shapeshifting thief). The specific phrasing of that thought might be my favorite moment of this arc so far, because he was talking to himself with the intention that an audience would overhear. That’s an uncommon style of fourth wall acknowledgement, which makes me wonder why it was necessary. Will the Creator’s musings on the story begin to diverge from our expectations in the future? Could they diverge even from what’s presented to those of us in the audience? Maybe it’s just the (former) literature student in me being needlessly curious – I’m absorbing a translated version of this story, after all, so my musings might have no basis in the original Japanese – but it seems to me that our hooded narrator’s account of things might be worth scrutinizing in the future. Until he shows up again, I’ll be sending my energy Gugu’s way, hoping he stays alive long enough to reach at least one of his goals.